Operating performance

The operating performance safety and control area (SCA) includes an overall review of the conduct of licensed activities and the activities that enable effective performance.

In accordance with their operating licences, licensees shall implement and maintain an operations program, which includes a set of operating limits. Further, the operating limits are to be developed in accordance with design assumptions and design intent, and as documented in applicable safety analyses. The licensee shall operate within the specified operating limits. Additionally, licensees are responsible for operating, maintaining and modifying systems to maximize nuclear safety and to keep the risk to the public acceptably low.  

In this category, you will find research and technical information about safe operation, severe accident management and recovery, outage management performance and conduct of licensed activity.

Research and support program

• RSP-760.1 A Study for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission on Artificial Intelligence Applications and Implications for the Nuclear Industry
• RSP-658.1, Technical Presentation by Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Design Overview and Operating Experience for the Molten Salt and Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors
• RSP-645.1, Statistical Modelling of Aging Effects in Failure Rates of Piping Components
• RSP-586.2, IAEA technical document on fuel safety criteria for pressurized heavy-water fuel
• RSP-0136, Study of the potential implications of adopting single failure/severe accident licensing requirements

Technical papers and abstracts

• Canadian Regulator’s Perspective on Severe Accident Management of CANDU Reactors: In-Vessel Retention
• Technical and Scientific Support Organization Forum – Supporting the Development of Technical and Scientific Capacities in Member States
• CNSC Expectations for the Security of Prescribed Equipment containing Radioactive Sources, with emphasis towards the High Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy Units
• Severe Accident Prevention and Mitigation in Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors
• Experience with Emergency Mitigating Equipment in Canada
• The Analytic Hierarchy Process in Global Assessments
• Use of the Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) in the assessment of Source Term (ST) phenomena
• Hydrogen Management: Research and Development in Mitigation of Severe Accidents for CANDU Reactors in Canada
• CNSC Review of Industry’s Capability to Model a Multi-Unit Severe Accident
• Addressing Severe Accidents Through Design Extension Conditions and Severe Accident Management
• Roles of Analytical Simulation in SAMG Validation
• Consequences of Severe Accident Mitigating Strategies in CANDU Reactors
• Canadian regulatory framework for severe accidents
• Questions regarding competencies and training to ensure a group’s resilience during severe accidents
• Severe Accident Strategies, Review and Validation of Guidelines at Canadian NPPs
• CNSC Technical EOC Tools for Accident Assessment and Prognosis
• Hydrogen Assessment Tool for the Emergency Operating Centre
• Isotope Production Accelerators Report Card
• Canadian Approach to Defence in Depth, Design Extension Conditions and Severe Accident Management
• CANDU Fuel Safety Criteria: A CNSC Perspective
• Overview of Canadian Regulatory Practice and Requirements for Nuclear Core Design
• Tritium – Competitive Reaction in Cyclotrons F-18 Production – Regulatory Implications
• Application of Bayes Method in Evaluation of ROP/NOP Trip Setpoint
• Integrated Framework for Propagation of Uncertainties in Nuclear Cross-Sections in CANDU Steady-State and Transient Reactor Physics Simulations
• Regulatory Considerations in Long-Lead Items for Nuclear Reactor Facilities
• On the Functional Failure Concept and Probabilistic Safety Margins: Challenges in Application for Evaluation of Effectiveness of Shutdown Systems
• Regulatory Challenges for Human Factors in Small Modular Reactors
• Presentation on Preparing Workers for the Unexpected
• Severe accident progression without operator action
• CANDU safety research and development in Canada: Current progress and challenges
• Evaluation of severe accident mitigation actions through simulation
• CANDU heat sinks improvements as a follow up to Fukushima Daiichi Accident "The regulator perspective"
• Testing and qualification of confidence in statistical procedures
• A stylized approach for evaluation of incremental change in CANDU ROP/NOP trip functional failure probability under aging conditions
• A stochastic-deterministic approach for evaluation of uncertainty in the predicted maximum fuel bundle enthalpy in a CANDU postulated LBLOCA event
• Numerical prediction of heat transfer and pressure tube/calendria tube deformation during a contact boiling test
• Lack of correlation (incoherence) modeling and effect from realistic 3D inclined, body and surface seismic motions
• IRIS – 2012 Benchmark, Part I
• IRIS – 2012 Benchmark, Part II
• Development of a simplified generic PRA model for regulatory application
• Coupling between DONJON and CATHENA using a Bash script for RIH break opening time assessment
• Canadian participation in OECD/NEA-KAERI ROD bundle benchmark for CFD codes
• Challenges in PSA regulatory expectations for nuclear power plants in Canada
• Regulatory oversight – Approach to life extension of nuclear research reactors
• IRIS 2010 – Part III: Numerical simulations of Meppen II-4 test and VTT-IRSN-CNSC Punching tests
• Fundamental safety principles for future reactors and the role of a technology demonstration program
• CNSC approach to the review of reactor core thermalhydraulic design for new nuclear power plants
• Regulatory assessment of integrated safety reviews for nuclear plants refurbishment
• Safety analysis: its role and current trends
• CNSC Fuel Performance Oversight Programme
• A stochastic model for piping failure frequency analysis using OPDE data
• Crack growth model for the probabilistic assessment of inspection strategies for steam generator tubes
• Assessment of steam generator tube flaw size and leak rate models

Health studies

• Nuclear and radiation glossary

Publications

• Regulatory Oversight Report for Uranium Mines, Mills, Historic and Decommissioned sites in Canada : 2015
• CNSC Fukushima Task Force report
• CNSC Integrated Action Plan On the Lessons Learned From the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident

Videos

• Post-Fukushima improvements to nuclear power plants
• Understanding nuclear power plants: total station blackout
• Nuclear power plant safety systems – Part 1: Introduction
• Nuclear power plant safety systems – Part 2: Controlling the reactor